Chief Godson Ezenagu, the immediate past Commissioner for Agriculture in Anambra, has urged the state government to purchase 81 additional tractors to boost food production in the state.

Ezenagu made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Wednesday in Awka.

He recalled that he met only five tractors on assumption of office as commissioner in the ministry, adding that the number was later increased to 19.

He said that 81 more tractors were needed to bring the total number of the machinery to 100, in order to enhance agricultural production in the state.

Ezenagu said that more machinery were needed to enable farmers to move away from subsistence farming to mechanised agriculture.

He advised farmers in the state to shift from cultivating rice, yam and cassava to more lucrative areas such as pepper and tomatoes as well as groundnut and poultry production.

He said that under his tenure, more than N750 million was disbursed to farmers in the state and urged his successor to adopt the principle of continuity, to move agriculture forward.